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The chief of the joint UN- Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission in Syria told the UN Security Council Thursday that 96 percent of Syria's declared chemical weapons stockpile has been destroyed and only a dozen production facilities remain to be destroyed.
Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag told reporters that she delivered her last briefing to members of the UN Security Council, saying the remaining 12 production facilities comprised seven hangars and five tunnels. "That is a work of engineering, equipment .. and verification monitoring."
The joint mission will end Sept. 30 when the OPCW takes over.
"There are still some discrepancies on questions that are being asked -- that's work in dialogue," she said. "It's a discussion continuing in Damascus as well as The Hague (seat of OPCW). Final reporting needs to happen in relation to the elimination of the 12 production facilities."
Discrepancies involved in volume revisions following Syria's initial declaration of its chemical weapons inventory. The declaration was necessary to join the OPCW and have the chemical weapons and the relevant production facilities catalogued and destroyed by the organization.
On Aug. 18, the United States and UN-OPCW mission announced " 100 percent of Syria's priority chemicals were destroyed, the effluents had been taken to different countries who are partners in this endeavor," said Kaag. "The totality now of the overall Syria chemical weapons material has come to a destruction level of 96 percent," with the remaining four percent being the hangars and tunnels.
Ambassador Samantha Power of the United States, this month's rotating president of the council, later told reporters outside chambers, "Much more work still needs to be done on Syria's chemical weapons program. The international community must continue to press for the resolution of all discrepancies and omissions in Syria's original declaration."
"We must ensure that the Syrian government destroys its remaining facilities for producing chemical weapons within the mandated time frames and without the repeated delays by the Assad regime that plagued earlier removal efforts" Power said. "We must also address the Syrian military's reported systematic use of chlorine gas in opposition areas, as described by the Commission of Inquiry's August report."
"The progress we've made over the past year on chemical weapons, and the progress in Syria, will never be complete or real until the violence ends and steps toward a political solution begin," Power said.
Kaag also praised the unity of the council and the mission's staff.
"It's been a very multilateral, inclusive operation, politically, staffing-wise; the UN has very much worked as one, leveraging its assets," said Kaag. "This was a chemical weapons disarmament process, it has been unique; at the same time of course we have reiterated our strong hope that while this is achieved that the conditions for peace and security and the political process will be center stage for the benefit of the people of Syria and that of the region, particularly in these days of profound crisis."
